After more than a century as a profession, psychotherapy is in need of a little remodeling. In this season of lists and resolutions, I decided to come up with ten wishes for the therapy profession as a whole.

Equal time here. I read the riot act to therapists a couple weeks ago, pointing out several ways they sabotage their career and hasten burnout. Clients, now it’s your turn. Want a brief, disappointing stint in psychotherapy? No problem. Follow these seven simple rules.

Let’s try it. We’ll pick a date, say, two months away, on September 25th, and call it National Psychotherapy Day. It will be both an awareness day and a day of giving. Why? It seems to me that psychotherapy has a few problems we might want to address.

I’m not trying to incite a vulgarity revolution, but I do support the battle against defenses and inhibitions, especially in the therapy office. Sometimes that internal censor just needs to back the fudge off.

There is group who truly want to cry but cannot. Or maybe they can cry when they’re alone, but not with other people. Or just not in therapy. The emotion is there, the desire is there, but they’re blocked. They’re emotionally constipated.

71% of Americans identify as Christian (Gallup, 2009), and many want psychotherapy that will understand and support their beliefs. Enter Christian psychology. Today we hear from Mark McMinn, a leader in contemporary Christian psychotherapy.

What does Catholic psychotherapy look like? Look at one perspective as the VRT series continues with a contribution from the founder of an orthodox Catholic psychology graduate school and her esteemed colleagues.

Is it possible to integrate Native American healing methods with modern medicine and psychotherapy? The second entry in the VRT series features Lakota and Cherokee physician and psychologist Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona.

Welcome to the first of a dozen interviews about the integration of religion and psychotherapy. We begin with a look at Jewish psychotherapy through the eyes of 2009 Israel Prize recipient Mordechai Rotenberg.

Psyche means soul. Many psychotherapists don’t know that. Some build an entire career around it.
Join me for a blog series featuring twelve experts discussing their approach to psychotherapy based in twelve different religious traditions.

About In Therapy

This blog is written for people who are in therapy or considering therapy. I want to demystify the unique and often strange process of therapy to help empower clients get the most out of their time, money and effort.